High optical transparency polymer aerogels using low refractive index monomers

ABSTRACT

A polymer aerogel has polymerizable monomers and crosslinkers, wherein at least one of the monomers or at least one of the crosslinkers has a refractive index of less than 1.5, and the polymer aerogel has a visible transmittance of at least 20%/3 mm, a haze of 50%/3 mm or lower, and a porosity of at least 10%. A method of producing an aerogel includes dissolving precursors into a solvent, wherein the precursors include monomers, crosslinkers, a controlling agent and an initiator to form a precursor solution, wherein at least one of the monomers or at least one of the crosslinkers has a refractive index of 1.5 or lower, polymerizing the precursor solution to form a gel polymer, and removing the solvent from the gel polymer to produce an aerogel polymer.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

This invention was made with Government support under contractDE-AR000074 awarded by ARPA-E, Department of Energy. The Government hascertain rights in this invention.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to polymer aerogels, more particularly to highoptical transparency aerogels.

BACKGROUND

Porous, transparent aerogels have promise as materials for low costthermal barriers in windows. Polymer-based aerogels have advantages overother types of aerogels due to the wide range of properties accessibledue to the myriad of monomer and crosslinker building blocks available,and the different polymerization methods. One can design porous polymeraerogels to possess high pore volume, high specific surface area, smallpore size, high mechanical strength, good chemical stability, andtunable hydrophobicity. These morphological and chemical characteristicsdefine the efficacy of the aerogel in its application.

Various methods can be used to synthesize polymer aerogels includingcondensation or radical polymerization. Radical polymerization offerscompatibility with a wide range of monomers and crosslinkers inconjunction with established techniques to control the final propertiesof synthesized polymers. Controlled radical polymerizations inparticular benefit the development of polymer aerogels because thesemethods can control the pore size distribution of the aerogels. Examplesof controlled radical polymerization methods include using chaintransfer agents (CTA), polymerization mediated by stable free radicals(SFRP), atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), radical additionfragmentation transfer (RAFT), and other controlled polymerizationmethods. Polymer gels formed by uncontrolled or controlledpolymerization may undergo freeze drying, supercritical or evaporativedrying, where they may also be known as xerogels due to dramatic loss oftheir porosity.

Polymer aerogels used in thermal management applications, such asthermal barriers, benefit from high pore volume and small pore size.High porosity and small pore size result in decreased thermalconductivity by reducing density, reducing the conductivity of thepore-filling gas through the Knudsen effect, and increasing phononscattering. Mechanical strength, chemical stability, and tunable surfaceenergies also play an important role in the applications of porouspolymer aerogels.

However, fundamental difficulties exist in achieving high opticaltransparency and low haze in porous materials. The large pore volumes ofhighly porous aerogels derive from macropores (greater than 50 nm) andmesopores (2-50 nm) of larger pore widths. These large pore sizesscatter light due to Rayleigh scattering and/or Mie scattering.Theoretically, one can avoid large pore sizes at high porosities byincreasing the number of small mesopores and micropores (<2 nm), butpractically generating, and maintaining, this morphology duringsynthesis and post-synthesis processing of aerogels has many challenges.Small pores collapse when drying under ambient conditions, preventingthe abundance of small pores typically necessary to achieve thecombination of high porosity and high optical transparency.

One approach to making high transparency insulation materials is to usesilica aerogels. A sol-gel method produces these aerogels usinghydrolysis of sol-gel precursors, polycondensation, and aging, to forman inorganic gel that then undergoes drying. Silica aerogels can exhibithigh porosity and high optical transparency when dried in supercriticalconditions. However, supercritical drying requires specialized equipmentnot scalable for practical applications, has high cost and consumes alot of time. Supercritical CO₂ drying typically begins with a solvatedgel that undergoes a solvent exchange into liquid CO₂ and then undergoeshigh temperatures and high pressures for several hours. SupercriticalCO₂ drying maintains the pore size of aerogels by eliminating thesurface tension from the evaporating liquid phase, reducing the collapseof pore walls and allowing smaller pores to maintain their presence.However, these aerogels are mechanically fragile and hydrophilic,requiring post-processing to make them stable at ambient humidity.

Porous polymer aerogels overcome some of the inherent limitations ofsilica aerogels by allowing greater mechanical strength and fine tuningof morphological and chemical characteristics. Polymer aerogels havinghigh porosity generally consist of rigid monomers and crosslinkers thatresult in reduced pore shrinkage upon drying. One can synthesize polymeraerogels with high porosities (>90%), but they often contain macroporesand larger mesopores, resulting in excessive light scattering and littleto no optical transparency. Polymer aerogels with high opticaltransparency and low light scattering usually primarily containmicropores and small mesopores, which afford relatively low maximumporosities (10-40%) when drying under ambient conditions. A process thatcan intrinsically reduce either the pore shrinkage or light scatteringwould be desirable.

SUMMARY

According to aspects illustrated here, there is provided a polymeraerogel that has polymerizable monomers and crosslinkers, wherein atleast one of the monomers or at least one of the crosslinkers has arefractive index of less than 1.5, and the polymer aerogel has a visibletransmittance of at least 20%/3 mm, a haze of 50%/3 mm or lower, and aporosity of at least 10%.

According to aspects illustrated here, there is provided a method ofproducing an aerogel that includes dissolving precursors into a solvent,wherein the precursors include monomers, crosslinkers, a controllingagent and an initiator to form a precursor solution, wherein at leastone of the monomers or at least one of the crosslinkers has a refractiveindex of 1.5 or lower, polymerizing the precursor solution to form a gelpolymer, and removing the solvent from the gel polymer to produce anaerogel polymer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a flowchart of an embodiment of a method to manufacture ahigh porosity optically transparent, low haze polymer aerogel.

FIG. 2 shows a graph of optical transmission and scattering spectra ofaerogel and corresponding low refractive index aerogel.

FIG. 3 shows a graph of comparison of pore volumes and pore sizedistributions of transparent porous polymer aerogels.

FIG. 4 shows a graph of thermal stability in terms of mass versustemperature.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The embodiments here use low refractive index precursors to produceaerogels with lower haze and higher optical transparencies at higherporosities and pore sizes when compared to their higher refractive indexcounterparts. The embodiments may produce aerogels that exhibitdecreased thermal conductivities, having benefits for applications intransparent thermal barriers.

As used here, the term ‘high optical transparency’ means that theaerogels have a visible transmittance of 20%/3 mm or higher. The term‘low haze’ means an aerogel having haze lower than 50%/3 mm Further, theterm ‘rigid’ means a monomer and/or crosslinkers having a stiffness ofat least 3.5 GigaPascals (GPa) when polymerized as a bulk homopolymer.The term ‘highly porous’ means an aerogel having a porosity of over 10%.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a process to manufacture porous, polymeraerogel having high optical transparency and low haze. At 10, precursorsare dissolved into a solvent, where the precursors include at least onemonomer or crosslinker having a refractive index of 1.5 or lower, 1.45or lower, or 1.4 or lower. The term ‘crosslinker’ here may includemonomers that have the capability of crosslinking with other monomersduring polymerization.

Monomers and/or crosslinkers with low refractive index can beincorporated or substituted in a polymer aerogel formulation to reducehaze and increase transparency. The low refractive index precursorscreate new transparent porous polymer aerogels or increase transparencyof porous polymer aerogels typically synthesized from their highrefractive index counterparts. Low refractive index precursors allowincreased transparency at larger average pore dimensions, such as thosegreater than 30 nanometers, compared to higher refractive index monomersthat allow transparency only at smaller pore dimensions, such as below30 nanometers. Low refractive index precursors also allow greatertolerance for low concentration, larger size defects such as pores >50nm or polymer clusters. Achieving transparency at higher pore dimensionsallows higher porosity in transparent aerogels, which has benefits forreducing thermal conductivity in window thermal barrier applications.

Mono or di-functional monomers and/or multifunctional crosslinkers usedto synthesize porous polymer aerogels with enhanced transparency arechosen based on the bulk refractive index of the corresponding densehomopolymers. Low refractive index monomers and/or crosslinkers leadingto transparent porous polymer aerogels are typically fluorinated, and/orcontain chemical groups with low polarizability or low dielectricconstant. Lower refractive indices of monomers and their correspondingpolymers result from lower polarizability arising from chemical bondsnot prone to interactions with oscillating electric or electromagneticfields, such as light in the visible frequency range. By using lowrefractive index polymer precursors, optical transparency is increasedand haze is reduced because scattering phenomena such as Rayleighscattering decrease when the difference in refractive index between thepolymer network and the substance in the pores is reduced. In windowapplications, the substance in the pores is a gas such as air, nitrogen,argon, or krypton, at 1 atmosphere of pressure or below, (vacuum). Suchgases and vacuum have refractive indexes below 1.001, whereas polymershave refractive indexes above 1.001, typically above 1.3. Thus, reducingthe refractive index of the polymer reduces light scattering.

Monomers can be monofunctional at a content of less than 50% by volume,with respect to the total amount of polymerizable precursors, in acopolymerization scheme to create porous aerogels. Di-functional andmultifunctional monomers and/or crosslinkers can create porous andtransparent polymer aerogels at contents of 50-100 vol % of thepolymerizable precursors. Monofunctional means have one group capable ofparticipating in a polymerization or crosslinking reaction. Di- ormultifunctional mean having two or multiple such groups, respectively.Examples of low polarizability monomers used to create porous andtransparent polymer aerogels include, but are not limited to,1H,1H,6H,6H-Perfluoro-1,6-hexanediol diacrylate (F-HDDA),2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorostyrene, 1H,1H,2H-Perfluoro-1-hexene, ethyleneglycol diacrylate, methacrylate-functionalized perfluoropolyethers, andacrylate-functionalized perfluoropolyethers. The diagrams below showmolecular structure of the examples of low refractive index monomersand/or crosslinkers. These make up from 0.1-100 vol % of thepolymerizable precursors, more specifically 0.1-20 vol %.

As shown above, the molecules from left to right are:1H,1H,6H,6H-Perfluoro-1,6-hexanediol diacrylate (F-HDDA),2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorostyrene, 1H,1H,2H-Perfluoro-1-hexene, and ethyleneglycol diacrylate. Other examples of low refractive index monomersinclude 1,1,1,3,3,3-Hexafluoroisopropyl methacrylate,2,2,2-Trifluoroethyl methacrylate, 1,1,1,3,3,3-Hexafluoroisopropylacrylate, 2,2,2-Trifluoroethyl acrylate, methacrylate-functionalizedperfluoropolyethers, and acrylate-functionalized perfluoropolyethers.Table 1 shows examples of refractive indexes of selected polymerscorresponding to common monomers and/or crosslinkers. Low refractiveindex monomers with refractive index below 1.5, 1.45, or 1.4 make up0.1-70 vol % of the polymerizable precursors.

Polymer Refractive Index Poly(hexafluoropropylene oxide) 1.3010Poly(tetrafluoroethylene) 1.3500 Poly(ethylene oxide) 1.4539Poly(4-fluoro-2-trifuloromethylstyrene) 1.4600 Polystyrene 1.5894Poly(p-divinylbenzene) 1.6150

Porous polymer aerogels synthesized from low refractive index precursorsmay be combined with rigid monomers, where, as mentioned before, a rigidor stiff monomer has a stiffness of over 3.5 GPa when polymerized as abulk homopolymer. The combination increases porosity and decreasesshrinkage upon drying. Rigidity may also be evaluated by comparing glasstransition temperatures of polymers corresponding to the monomers and/orcrosslinkers used. Rigid monomers and/or crosslinkers often have higherrefractive indexes, so incorporation of low refractive index precursorsserves to decrease haze and increase optical transparency in thesematerials. Examples of common monomers and crosslinkers that can becombined with low refractive index precursors are shown below. Thesemake up 30-99.9 vol % of the polymerizable precursors.

The examples of rigid monomers and crosslinkers shown above includedivinylbenzene (DVB), hexanediol diacrylate (HDDA), hexanedioldimethacrylate, trimethacrylate adamantane, octamethacryl POSS, anddipentaerythritol pentacrylate, but are not limited to these examples.The addition of rigid monomers and/or crosslinkers to the precursorsolution is an optional process. Some monomers and crosslinkers maypossess low refractive index and high rigidity simultaneously. Suchmonomers and crosslinkers may make up 0-100 vol % of the polymerizableprecursors.

Returning to FIG. 1, after the formation of the precursor solution, thesolution undergoes polymerization at 12. One should note that thepolymerization results in polymers that consist of the monomers andcrosslinkers that have the characteristics discussed above. Conventionalor controlled radical (co)polymerizations may be used to synthesize theporous and transparent polymer aerogels. This may include the use of achain transfer agent, or processes such as radical addition fragmenttransfer (RAFT) polymerization, atom transfer radical polymerization(ATRP), or stable free radical polymerization (SFRP), as examples.Tuning the rate of release of radicals by the initiator, such as athermal initiator, can control the radical polymerization. The use ofgood solvents can also, in part, control the radical polymerization. Asolvent is defined as “good” if the Flory Huggins interaction parameterbetween the solvent and polymer is below 0.5, or if the difference inthe Hildebrand or Hansen solubility parameters between the solvent andpolymer is small. Controlling the polymerization controls the pore sizedistribution of polymer aerogels, which determines the porosity, opticaltransparency, and haze of the resulting aerogel.

After polymerization at 12, the polymer gel dries at 14. Drying mayinvolve ambient drying, freeze drying, or supercritical CO₂ drying.Prior to drying the gel, it may undergo solvent exchange or the sols canundergo direct exchange.

EXAMPLE

Gel precursors were dissolved in a high boiling point organic solventsuch n-methylpyrrolidone, dimethylsulfoxide, 1,2-dichlorobenzene,xylenes, or dimethylformamide, and degassed with dry N₂. A typical gelprecursor mixture consists of radical initiator, monomer(s) and/orcrosslinker(s), and chain transfer agent or another controlling agent.Azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) is a thermal initiator typically used, butthe initiator may also consist of lauroyl peroxide, benzoyl peroxide,tert-butyl peroxide, dicumyl peroxide, a photoinitiator, benzophenone,anthaquinone, camphorquinone, and benzoin. Initiators make up 0.001-10wt % of the precursor solution, which includes polymerizable precursorsand solvent.

The precursor solution may also include a control agent consisting of atleast one of: a chain transfer agent, such as organic thiols, a chaintransfer agent capable of mediating a RAFT polymerization process,trithiocarbonate chain transfer agent, a xanthate chain transfer agent,a benzodithioate chain transfer agent, dodecanethiol, chloroform, octylmercaptan, or 1,8-dimercapto-3,6-dioxaoctane, a nitroxide radical suchas 2,2,6,6-Tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxy (TEMPO), 4-hydroxy-TEMPO, or anitroxide derived from decomposition of an alkoxyamine, or aligand-coordinated transition metal ion capable of mediating an ATRPpolymerization. The control agent or agents may each make up 0.0001-10wt % of the precursor solution.

Monomer(s) and/or crosslinker(s) generally consist of a combination ofrigid monomer such as divinylbenzene, trimethacryl adamantane, ordipentaerythritol pentaacrylate, and low refractive index monomer suchas 1H,1H,6H,6H-Perfluoro-1,6-hexanediol diacrylate. The composition ofpolymerizable material vs solvent ranges from 0.1% to 70% by volume. Thedegassed solution was cast into a mold and polymerized in an oven at 90°C. for approximately 1-2 hours, but could be heated in the range of 50to 150° C. for a period of time of at least 1 minute. Polymerizationcould also occur due to exposure to visible or UV radiation, or moregenerally electromagnetic radiation, at room temperature, 20° C., orabove.

The gels were removed from the mold and solvent exchanged beforesubsequent drying steps. Gels were first solvent exchanged into a goodsolvent, such as tetrahydrofuran, n-methylpyrrolidone, benzene, ordimethylformamide, to extract any oligomers, and then exchanged into asolvent with low solvent-polymer interaction strength, or ‘bad solvent’such as acetone or heptane, before drying. Static or flow solventexchange can be used. In static solvent exchange, 2 g of wet gel wereplaced in 10 mL of solvent for 1 day. Two exchanges were performed foreach type of solvent. Alternatively, gels can be exchanged directly intoa low surface tension solvent such as acetone with as little as onesolvent exchange. Gels can also be dried without undergoing solventexchange. Resultant aerogels using this method typically have smallerpore sizes and porosities.

Aerogels were produced by drying the solvent exchanged gels. Eitherambient or supercritical CO₂ drying can be used. In ambient drying, agel immersed in a non-solvent such as heptane or low surface tensionsolvent such as acetone was slowly dried over 2-3 days in a coveredcontainer, and then dried under vacuum at elevated temperature, 50° C.In supercritical CO₂ drying, gels in a solvent such as acetone or analcohol are solvent exchanged with liquid CO₂ and supercritically dried.Higher porosity and larger pore sizes are generally achieved withsupercritical CO₂ drying.

Optical transmission and scattering measurements with aspectrophotometer can be performed on the transparent porous aerogels toquantitatively determine the optical transmission and scatteredtransmission. From these measurements, visible light transmittance andhaze values can be reported as metrics for evaluating the transparencyof the porous polymer aerogels. An example of transmitted and scatteredlight in the visible region by porous polymer aerogels with higherrefractive index (DVB/HDDA) at curve 20 and lower refractive index(DVB/F-HDDA) at curve 22 with similar porosities and pore sizes is shownin FIG. 2, where the low refractive index aerogel shows higher visiblelight transmittance and lower visible light scattering.

In addition to optical measurements, Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET)specific surface areas (SSAs) can be measured by N₂ adsorptionporosimetry. Higher surface areas typically imply smaller pore sizes atequivalent pore volumes, a higher number of smaller pores, larger porevolumes at equivalent pore size, more pores of same size, or acombination of these. BET SSAs are a good metric for determining theoverall porosity and/or pore size of porous polymer aerogels. Thecumulative pore volume (CPV) and pore size distribution of the materialcan also be determined. The use of low refractive index monomers and/orcrosslinkers to synthesize porous polymer aerogels or the incorporationand/or substitution of these components into an existing precursorcomposition can affect the morphology of the resultant polymer aerogels.Typically, when a monomer or crosslinker with lower refractive index,such as by fluorination to introduce C—F bonding, substitutes ananalogous monomer or crosslinker with C—H bonds and higher refractiveindex, SSAs are maintained, optical transparency increases, and hazedecreases. Table 2 shows an example of the substitution of a higherpolarizability monomer (HDDA) with an analogous lower polarizabilitymonomer (F-HDDA) with similar SSAs.

DVB Acrylate Optical Haze Porosity BET Content Content Transmission (%/by CPV SSA (vol %) (vol %) (%/3 mm) 3 mm) (%) (m²/g) 60 40 (HDDA) 32.07.4 25 329 60 40 (F-HDDA) 39.6 5.5 23 386

Compared to the polymer aerogel composed solely of high refractive indexmonomers and/or crosslinkers, specific surface area and CPV areapproximately the same, however haze is significantly lower, by 25%.When dried supercritically, low refractive index polymer aerogels canshow high porosities (>50%) with relatively low haze (<30%) compared tohigher refractive index aerogels. Controlled polymerizations can givemedium to high porosities (>40%) with high SSAs (>600 m²/g) and low haze(<15%/3 mm) under ambient drying conditions.

Pore volumes of porous polymer aerogels can be estimated by multiplemethods. The first method involves finding densities of polymer aerogelsby dividing their masses by their volumes, which are then divided bybulk densities of respective polymers to calculate pore volumefractions. Another method used to measure pore volume is N₂ adsorptionporosimetry. These methods are typically consistent with one anotherwhen bulk polymer density is known, and both serve as good metrics forcomparing pore volume in porous polymer aerogels. A comparison of thepore size distributions and pore volumes (by N₂ porosimetry) of a porouspolymer aerogel (DVB/HDDA) and its low refractive index counterpart(DVB/F-HDDA) is shown in FIG. 3. Curve 30 shows the pore size and curve32 shows the pore volume for DVB/HDDA, and curve 34 shows the pore sizeand curve 36 shows the pore volume for DVB/F-HDDA. The two aerogels havesimilar pore size distributions and pore volumes. The aerogelincorporating low refractive index precursors has lower haze, <6%/3 mmFIG. 3 illustrates that the embodiments herein enable synthesis ofporous polymer aerogels with haze <6%/3 mm, specific surface area >300m²/g, a porosity >20%, average pore size <10 nm, and pore sizedistribution with full width at half maximum below 10 nm. These aredifferentiating characteristics of the aerogel with low refractive indexin FIG. 3.

In another embodiment, the refractive index of the polymer network maybe reduced after the polymerization step. This can be accomplished byincreasing the number of C—F bonds relative to the C—C and/or C—H bondsin the material. The addition of C—F bonds may be accomplished by addingF atoms directly to the polymer structure, substituting F atoms forother atoms such as H, or by adding molecules containing F. The additionof C—F bonds can be performed in a solvent, by polymerizing the gel in amedium containing components for the post-functionalization reaction, orby polymerizing the gel and solvent exchanging into a medium containingthe components for the post-functionalization. The addition of C—F bondscan also be performed after the aerogel has been dried. No order ofperforming fluorination should be implied as it can occur at any pointin the process between polymerization and finalizing the aerogel.Fluorination reactions that can be used are: direct fluorination by F₂,HF, or XeF₂, or electrophilic aromatic substitution (EAS). In oneembodiment of the EAS reaction, fluorine is added to an aromatic groupin the polymer network by using a Lewis acid catalyst such as FeCl₃,SnCl₄, AlCl₃, or BF₄-adducts in conjunction with a fluorinated moleculecontaining a leaving group such as Cl, Br, I. In another embodiment ofthe EAS reaction, fluorine is added by using ionic compounds derivedfrom 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane, such as1-(chloromethyl)-4-fluoro-1,4-diazoniabicyclo[2.2.2]octane, withcounterions such as BF₄, FSO₃, triflate, and PF₆. The ionic compound isused either by itself or in conjunction with a superacid such as triflicacid or triflimidic acid. The polymer gel or aerogel may be pretreatedto enhance or enable reaction with the fluorinating reagent orfluorine-containing group.

This embodiment would involve similar processes to the method disclosedabove, except for the contents of the precursor solution would not havelow refractive index monomers and crosslinkers, and there would be aprocess of decreasing the refractive index of the gel afterpolymerization. This embodiment could also be performed on gels alreadycontaining low refractive index monomers, to further reduce therefractive index.

Similar to fluorination, in another embodiment, the amount of siloxanerelative to hydrocarbon content can be increased throughpost-polymerization modification to reduce refractive index. Siloxanegroups comprise repeat units of alternating Si and O bonds, where the Siatoms also form bonds with methyl, hydrogen, or hydrocarbon groups. Thegeneral structure is X—[—(SiR₁R₂)—O—]_(n) where R₁ and R₂ are methyl,hydrogen, or hydrocarbon groups not bonded to the O atoms in thebackbone. The siloxane groups include another reactive functional group,X, such as alkoxysilane, a halide, hydroxide, amine, epoxide, thiol,vinyl, or carboxylic acid to enable its incorporation into the polymergel or aerogel. The polymer gel or aerogel may be pretreated, forexample by undergoing oxidation by UV, exposure to a chemical oxidizingagent, or plasma treatment, to enable reaction with the siloxane group.The siloxane may be reacted with a solvated gel by introducing thereagents through the polymerization solvent or performing one or moresolvent exchanges into a medium containing the reagents. The siloxanemay be reacted with a dried aerogel by introducing it as a vapor orcondensing it in the pores of the aerogel. No order of adding siloxaneshould be implied as it can occur at any point in the process betweenpolymerization and finalizing the aerogel.

The embodiments of reducing the refractive index by post modification ofthe polymer gel or aerogel by fluorine, fluorine-containing chemicalgroups, or siloxane-containing chemical groups are merely examples.Limitations of the embodiments to these examples is not intended and nosuch limitation should be implied. Other chemical bonds or functionalgroups may be used to reduce the refractive index of the gel or aerogel.

The embodiments enable production of porous polymer aerogels withincreased optical transparency and decreased haze when compared tohigher refractive index counterparts, without decreases in porosity. Theaerogels resulting from these embodiments are particularly suitable inwindow thermal barrier applications. A wide range of low refractiveindex monomers and/or crosslinkers, for example with high oxygen orfluorine content, exist and can be easily copolymerized with rigidmonomers and/or crosslinkers by controlled polymerization methods tofine tune the properties of the resultant porous transparent polymers.Low refractive index polymer aerogels, particularly those containingfluorine atoms, commonly have increased hydrophobicity, chemicalresistance, and thermal stability, compared to their high refractiveindex counterparts. Hydrophobicity, chemical resistance, and thermalstability generally increase with fluorine content. Low refractive indexmonomers and/or crosslinkers are commonly composed of heavy atoms, suchas oxygen and fluorine, which increase phonon scattering and decreasethermal conductivity, making these polymer aerogels particularlysuitable as transparent thermal barriers. Due to a combination ofintrinsically low thermal conductivity and lower haze at high porosity,aerogels made with low refractive index monomers can reach thermalconductivity values lower than 0.1 W/mK. Degradation onset temperaturemeans the temperature at which 2% of the mass of a dried aerogel islost.

FIG. 4 shows that an aerogel with 20 wt % fluorine content has higherthermal stability than an aerogel without fluorine, as measured bythermogravimetric analysis. A metric for thermal stability is thedegradation onset temperature which means the temperature at which 2% ofthe mass is lost due to decomposition reactions. Degradation onsettemperature is measured by heating the dried aerogel from 25° C. to ahigh temperature, such as 400° C., at a rate of 20° C./min, in an inertgas atmosphere, while simultaneously measuring the mass of the aerogel.Immediately prior to measurement, the dried aerogel is typicallyre-dried by heating to 50° C. for 5 minutes or a similar procedure.Heating at a rate of 20° C./min to a temperature higher than thedegradation onset temperature would result in a mass loss of greaterthan 2%. Using a different heating rate may affect the measurement ofdegradation onset temperature. The degradation onset temperature is 318°C. for the fluorinated material and 210° C. for the non-fluorinatedaerogel. The incorporation of low refractive index fluorinated monomersenables degradation temperatures greater than 250° C. to be achieved.

In this manner, the reduction in haze and increase in opticaltransparency of porous polymer occurs in aerogels by incorporation oflow refractive index monomers when compared to their higher refractiveindex analogues is novel. The reduction in haze and increase in opticaltransparency of porous polymer aerogels by substitution of monomersand/or crosslinkers with their low refractive index analogues ispossible by the embodiments here. The embodiments here also provide theability to create highly porous polymer aerogels under supercriticaldrying conditions (porosity >40%) with low haze (<30%/3 mm) coupled withhigh specific surface area (>500 m²/g). In addition, they provide theability to create porous polymer aerogels under ambient dryingconditions (porosity >40%) with low haze (<15%/3 mm) coupled with highspecific surface area (>600 m²/g), and to maintain transparency at largepore dimensions (<60 nm) in porous polymer aerogels synthesized usinglow refractive index monomers.

It will be appreciated that variants of the above-disclosed and otherfeatures and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be combined intomany other different systems or applications. Various presentlyunforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations, orimprovements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in theart which are also intended to be encompassed by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A polymer aerogel comprising polymerizablemonomers and crosslinkers, wherein at least one of the monomers or atleast one of the crosslinkers has a refractive index of less than 1.5,and the polymer aerogel has a visible transmittance of at least 20%/3mm, a haze of 50%/3 mm or lower, and a porosity of at least 10%.
 2. Thepolymer aerogel of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the monomers orthe at least one of the crosslinkers has a refractive index of less than1.4.
 3. The polymer aerogel of claim 1, wherein the polymer aerogel hasa porosity of at least 40%, haze of 30%/3 mm or lower, and a specificsurface area of at least 500 m²/g.
 4. The polymer aerogel of claim 1,wherein the polymer aerogel has a haze below 6%/3 mm, a specific surfacearea above 300 m²/g, a porosity above 20%, average pore size below 10nm, and pore size distribution with full width at half maximum below 10nm.
 5. The polymer aerogel of claim 1, wherein the polymer aerogel has adegradation onset temperature above 250° C.
 6. The polymer aerogel ofclaim 1, wherein the polymer aerogel has thermal conductivity below 0.1W/mK.
 7. A method of producing an aerogel, comprising: dissolvingprecursors into a solvent, wherein the precursors include monomers,crosslinkers, a controlling agent and an initiator to form a precursorsolution, wherein at least one of the monomers or at least one of thecrosslinkers has a refractive index of 1.5 or lower; polymerizing theprecursor solution to form a gel polymer; and removing the solvent fromthe gel polymer to produce an aerogel polymer.
 8. The method of claim 7,wherein the at least one of the monomers or the at least one of thecrosslinkers has a refractive index below 1.4.
 9. The method of claim 7,wherein the precursors include at least one monomer or at least onecrosslinker that has a stiffness of at least 3.5 GPa.
 10. The method ofclaim 7, wherein the at least one monomer or the at least onecrosslinker comprises one selected from the group consisting of:divinylbenzene; hexanediol diacrylate; hexanediol dimethacrylate,trimethacrylate adamantane, and dipentaerythritol pentacrylate.
 11. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the at least one of the monomers or the atleast one of the crosslinkers having a refractive index of 1.5 or lowercomprises at least one selected from the group consisting of:1H,1H,6H,6H-Perfluoro-1,6-hexanediol diacrylate (F-HDDA),2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorostyrene, 1H,1H,2H-Perfluoro-1-hexene, ethyleneglycol diacrylate, 1,1,1,3,3,3-Hexafluoroisopropyl methacrylate,2,2,2-Trifluoroethyl methacrylate, 1,1,1,3,3,3-Hexafluoroisopropylacrylate, 2,2,2-Trifluoroethyl acrylate, methacrylate-functionalizedperfluoropolyethers, and acrylate-functionalized perfluoropolyethers.12. The method of claim 7, wherein the initiator comprises at least oneselected from the group consisting of: a thermal initiator, AIBN,lauroyl peroxide, benzoyl peroxide, tert-butyl peroxide, dicumylperoxide, a photoinitiator, benzophenone, anthraquinone, camphorquinone,and benzoin.
 13. The method of claim 7, wherein the control agentcomprises at least one selected from the group consisting of: a chaintransfer agent, an organic thiol chain transfer agent, dodecanethiol,chloroform, octyl mercaptan, and 1,8-dimercapto-3,6-dioxaoctane.
 14. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the control agent comprises at least oneselected from the group consisting of: reagents to enable stable freeradical polymerization, a stable nitroxide, an alkoxyamine,2,2,6,6-Tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxy (TEMPO), and 4-hydroxy-TEMPO. 15.The method of claim 7 wherein the control agent comprises one or moreselected from the group consisting of: a reagent capable of mediating aRAFT polymerization, a trithiocarbonate chain transfer agent, a xanthatechain transfer agent, a benzodithioate chain transfer agent, and aligand-coordinated transition metal ion capable of mediating an ATRPpolymerization.
 16. The method of claim 7 wherein the polymerizableprecursors comprise 0.1-70 vol % of the precursor solution.
 17. Themethod of claim 7 wherein the initiator comprises 0.001-10 wt % of theprecursor solution.
 18. The method of claim 7 wherein the control agentcomprises 0.0001-10 wt % of the precursor solution.
 19. The method ofclaim 7 wherein the at least one low refractive index monomer or the atleast one crosslinkers comprise 0.1-70 vol % of the polymerizableprecursors.
 20. The method of claim 7 wherein monomers having astiffness of at least 3.5 GPa and crosslinkers comprise 30-99.9 vol % ofthe polymerizable precursors.
 21. The method of claim 7, whereinpolymerizing comprises one of either heating the precursor solution to atemperature between 50 and 150° C. for a period of time of at least 1min, or exposure to electromagnetic radiation.
 22. The method of claim7, further comprising performing solvent exchange prior to drying thegel polymer.
 23. The method of claim 7, wherein drying the gel polymercomprises one of ambient drying, freeze drying, or supercritical CO₂drying.
 24. An aerogel manufactured from the process of claim 7.